Geesh, you are one little hateful, vile revisionist aren't ya Lil Tommie? I really don't think you would know the truth if it kicked you right square in the ass, of which I doubt you even have enough to sit down upon,.
On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 11:57 PM, Tommy News <[email protected]> wrote: > Ronald Reagan’s Real Legacy: Death, Heartache and Silence Over AIDS > by Karen Ocamb on February 6, 2011 | 12:12 PM > > > Reagan AIDSgate poster via ACT UP New York > America is gushing Sunday over former President Ronald Reagan in > recognition of what would have been his 100th birthday. Produced by > Reagan groupies, the long-weekend celebrations at the newly primped > Reagan Library and Museum in Simi Valley are glitzy and reverent > evocations of an imagined man. > > In this white-washed version of history, Reagan, not Soviet Prime > Minister Mikhail Gorbachev (remember “glasnost,” “perestroika,” and > the impact of Levis, Coke and “Dynasty”?) is credited with “tearing > down” the Berlin Wall; the trillion dollars in debt Reagan wracked up > during his “conservative” presidency is ignored; “supply-side” or > “trickle-down” economics” still works, even though theory-originator > David Stockman says it doesn’t; the Reagan-approved secret Iran-Contra > scandal was patriotic, not subversive; and he is still the “Great > Communicator” – who conned working-class “Reagan Democrats” while > catering to the rich, creating a huge surge in homelessness, reveling > in unchecked deregulation and extolling union-busting with the mass > firing of the over-worked, striking PATCO flight controllers – even > before there were trained replacements. > > After the depraved Vietnam War, the perennial dark and disgraced > Richard Nixon, the short-term Gerry Ford and the confusing Jimmy > Carter (who orchestrated the Middle East Peace talks but couldn’t free > the Iran hostages or prevent long gas lines) – Reagan, the “ah-shucks” > bad B-movie actor (Bedtime for Bonzo), huckstered his scripted > “vision” of “Morning in America” viewed from some exceptional shiny > city on the hill. Reagan was the imaged Mount Rushmore president, the > right wing conservatives’ longed-for King Arthur who would crush the > Democratic Dream of FDR and the Kennedys and anyone who believed in > social and economic justice promised by the “counter-culture”1960s. > He’d already proven his anti-Communist bona fides appearing in 1947 as > a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee. > > For LGBT people, Ronald Reagan’s presidency was the far different > “mourning in America.” And unlike Nixon who was forced to resign for > covering up the political Watergate scandal, Reagan didn’t even bother > covering up his cold disdain, his deliberate neglect, his abject > refusal to help gay men stricken in 1981 by a strange new communicable > disease that turned out to be AIDS. But there was no “AIDSgate” for > Reagan; the White House agreed with the Religious Right that gays > deserved what they got – they deserved to die. > > Rev. Jerry Falwell, head of the Moral Majority, said, “AIDS is the > wrath of God upon homosexuals.” Patrick Buchanan, Reagan’s Press > Secretary, said AIDS was “nature’s revenge on gay men.” Antigay Gary > Bauer, Reagan’s domestic policy advisor, kept Surgeon General C. > Everett Koop (selected because he was an anti-abortion Christian > fundamentalist) away from Reagan: > > ”[In 1986] President Reagan asked the surgeon general to prepare a > report on AIDS as the United States confirmed its ten-thousandth case. > Leaders of the evangelical movement did not want Koop to write the > report, nor did senior White House staffers who shared Koop’s > evangelical convictions. As Dr. Koop related to me, “Gary Bauer > [Reagan's chief advisor on domestic policy] … was my nemesis in > Washington because he kept me from the president. He kept me from the > cabinet and he set up a wall of enmity between me and most of the > people that surrounded Reagan because he believed that anybody who had > AIDS ought to die with it. That was God’s punishment for them.” > > In his extraordinary book And The Band Played On about the early > history of the AIDS epidemic, gay journalist Randy Shilts, who later > died of AIDS, wrote that two events dramatically changed the course of > AIDS in America. The first was the announcement that closeted gay > movie star Rock Hudson had AIDS and the second was the report by Koop. > > In an interview with me for the 25 anniversary of the June 5, 1981 CDC > report of six gay men with what turned out > > > Rock Hudson - publicity photo > to be AIDS, Hudson’s publicist Dale Olson said Reagan called his > longtime friend in July 1985 when Hudson was in a Paris hospital > desperately looking for a cure for AIDS. Nonetheless, the “Great > Communicator” remained silent. It’s not as if Reagan was unaware of > AIDS by then: on April 23, 1984, the CDC had reported 4,177 case and > 1,807 deaths – something that came to the attention of the National > Democratic Convention when a candlelight vigil of more than 100,000 > people marched from the Castro to Moscone Center. > > California Rep. Henry Waxman, who held the first congressional hearing > on the disease at the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center in Los > Angeles in 1983, wrote Washington Post in late 1985: > > “It is surprising that the president could remain silent as 6,000 > Americans died, that he could fail to acknowledge the epidemic’s > existence. Perhaps his staff felt he had to, since many of his New > Right supporters have raised money by campaigning against > homosexuals.” > > Reagan finally mentioned the word “AIDS” in October 1986 and was > virtually forced to deliver his first major speech on AIDS on May 31, > 1987 on the eve of the Third International Conference on AIDS in > Washington. He was the invited by Elizabeth Taylor to speak at a > fundraiser for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, which Hudson > helped start with a $250,000 grant given to Taylor. (Here’s a link to > Reagan’s entire speech.) Outside the tented-event were protesters and > yet another candlelight vigil. > > Shilts wrote about Reagan’s 20-minute speech: > > “Reagan’s program, of course, would do very little to actually stop > the spread of AIDS. Though testing heterosexuals at marriage license > bureaus created the illusion of action, very few of thse people were > infected with the virus and very few lives would be saved. But then > saving lives had never been a priority of the Reagan administration. > Reagan’s speech was not meant to serve the public health; it was a > political solution to a political problem. The words created a stance > that was politically comfortable for the president and his adherents; > it was also a stance that killed people. Already, some said that > Ronald Reagan would be remembered in history books for one thing > beyond all else: He was the man who had let AIDS rage through America, > the leader of the government that when challenged to action had placed > politics above the health of the American people.” > > And not once did Ronald Reagan utter the word “gay.” > > Shilts: > > “By the time President Reagan had delivered his first speech on the > epidemic, of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 36,058 Americans had > been diagnosed with the disease; 20, 849 had died.” > > > Photo from WebMD's history of AIDS - > www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/slideshow-aids-retrospective > > On the USAID website, the statistics read: > > “In 2009, 33.3 million people around the world were living with > HIV/AIDS. More than 60 million people have been infected with HIV > since the pandemic began. AIDS is the leading cause of death in > Sub-Saharan Africa, and the fourth leading cause of death > globally…..Almost 5,000 people die every day due to AIDS. AIDS caused > 1.8 million deaths in 2009. An estimated 25 million people have died > from HIV-related causes since the beginning of the pandemic….There > were 2.6 million new HIV infections in 2009, or almost 7,200 people > per day.” > > The terrible irony for LGBT people is that in the very beginning of > the epidemic there was hope that Ronald Reagan would DO something. > There was precedent for the government acting quickly to stem a public > health crisis. In 1976, just five years earlier, the government rushed > to stop an outbreak of Legionnaires disease at an American Legion > convention in Philadelphia. > > (Corrected) And perhaps even more importantly, in 1978, as former > governor of California, Reagan publicly opposed the Briggs Initiative > – the antigay measure proposed by associates of Rev. Jerry Falwell and > Anita Bryant. Opposition by the hugely popular governor helped > significantly in the measure’s defeat. As a result, Reagan received > gay support in his presidential bid against Jimmy Carter in 1980, as > well as the more effective Religious Right. > > But once in office, Reagan turned his back on the gay friends and > staff he and his wife Nancy had known for years. > > Most historians and political pundits will look at the ripple effect > Reagan’s two terms in office – from 1981-1989 – continues to have on > American politics. But for many LGBTs, myself included, I cannot hear > the man’s name without thinking of so many other names now effectively > wiped from the collective memory – names like Michael Callen and Paul > Monette and Connie Norman and Wayne Karr. So many names – and with > each name, memories of joy and rage and a kind of spirituality in > confronting death with dignity – in spite of the government’s > disgusting deliberate neglect. > > > Names Project AIDS Quilt - via WebMD > -www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/slideshow-aids-retrospective > > Former President Ronald Reagan died on June 5, 2004 – 23 years to the > day when the CDC’s first report on AIDS appeared. Reagan had > apparently been living in seclusion with Alzheimer’s Disease — the > progressive disease that causes loss of memory and mental abilities. > People gushed for a week remembering the “Great Communicator” who was > entombed at his grand presidential library and museum like a political > Elvis: Simi Valley as the political Graceland. There his groupies > gather again, while those of us who remember his legacy of horror, > neglect and death still struggle with an un-ending heartbreak of what > might have been had our government cared and our friends not died. > > > Paul Monette Photo book publicity still > In Last Watch of the Night, my friend Paul Monette wrote in an essay > about the 25h anniversary of Stonewall: > > “[A] Victor, my last best friend, is wont to observe: ‘They don’t > understand. I don’t just want a cure. I want a cure and all my friends > back.’….As for my own losses, the pile of bodies is harly countable > anymore except in the heart – because the dead outnumber the living > now. Personally, that is….. > > Meanwhile, let the Stonewall celebrants save me a piece of cake from > the party, a rainbow flag and a rousing chorus of ‘We shall overcome.’ > Understand that I am far too busy tracking the enemy within. But I’m > with you. Brother and sister, and will be always, even after I’m > carried from the battle and planted on the final hill. You must never > forget: There’s no turning us back now. No more closets and nor more > loveless years in solitary. From now on, we have each other. Freedom > is on our side. > > And there is no America without us.” > > More: > > http://www.lgbtpov.com/2011/02/ronald-reagans-real-legacy-death-heartache-and-silence-over-aids/ > -- > Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time. > Have a great day, > Tommy > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at > http://www.PoliticalForum.com/<http://www.politicalforum.com/> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
